Rail mounting arrangement

ABSTRACT

A rail mounting arrangement for fixing a rail relative to storage racks comprises a rigid plate upon which a support member of the storage racks is adapted to be mounted upon a face thereof and including studs spaced a predetermined distance from the support member for attaching the rail in predetermined spaced relationship to the support member. Anchoring means is also provided for anchoring the plate to the floor of the storage space and a shim arrangement is provided for positioning and maintaining the height of the plate with respect to the floor.

United States Patent Harry W. Thompson Chicago, 111.

June 25, 1968 Jan. 5, 1 971 lnterlake Steel Corporation Chicago, Ill.

a corporation of New York Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee RAIL MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 238/287 lnt. CL... E0lb 3/00, 1301b 3/20 Field ol'Search 238/287, 288, 281, 282, 1013; 246/393, 473, 485

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1930 Schwendt et al 723,856 3/1903 Frantzen et a1 246/484 1,602,673 10/1926 Hojnowski 238/289 1,987,271 1/1935 Rosenthal... 246/473 2,645,427 7/1953 Naud 238/288 2,787,421 4/1957 Krabbendam 238/281 Primary ExaminerArthur L. La Point Assistant ExaminerRichard A. Bertsch Attorney-Molinare, Allegretti, Newitt & Witcoff ABSTRACT: A rail mounting arrangement for fixing a rail relative to storage racks comprises a rigid plate upon which a support member of the storage racks is adapted to be mounted upon a face thereof and including studs spaced a predetermined distance from the support member for attaching the rail in predetermined spaced relationship to the support member. Anchoring means is also provided for anchoring the plate to the floor of the storage space and a shim arrangement is provided for positioning and maintaining the height of the plate with respect to the floor.

PATENTEU JAN 5 I97! HARRY M4 THOMPSON BY /LWW /4 T TOR/V575 RAIL MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT BACKGROUND or THEINVENTION This invention relates to a rail mounting arrangement and, more particularly, to a rail plate and shim arrangement for holding and positioning a load carrier rail in fixed relationship to the storage racks in a storage space. I

In my copending application for patent, entitled Storage and Retrieval Arrangement, Ser. No. 737,199 filed Jun. 14, I968, I have disclosed a load carrier and spaced bin-type storage frame arrangement. In that arrangement the load carrier is adapted to move on rails longitudinally up and down as aisles formed between the open faces'of the bin type frames to store articles in and retrieve articles from the bins. The load carrier disclosed in thestorage and retrieval arrangement of my copending application is designed 'to clear the storage frames within close tolerances as the load carrier moves up and down the aisle. The minimizationof clearance is desirable to reduce storage space loss due to the load carrier and to reduce the time consumed in storing and retrieving each individual article by the load carrier. Due to the'minimum clearances between the load carrier and the storage frames, it is necessary that the rails upon which the load carrier rides be closely and accurately positioned with respect to the storage frames. If one of the rails adjacentthe-storage frames sags or moves with respect to the frames, a detrimental condition may result since the load carrier, which moves ata relatively high speed up and down the aisles, may strike the storage frames or articles in the bins resulting in damageto the frames or to the articles. This danger is substantially increased due to the substantial heights encountered in the load carrier disclosed in my copending application, since the sag orz'drop of the rail on one sideof the aisle will cause the load carrier to tilt slightly from the vertical. Such tilt, even thoughminute at the base of the load carrier, will result in the tipping of the top of the load carrier through a relatively large arc due tofits substantial height, causing possible damage to the top of the load carrier or undesirable stresses in its overheadrail arrangement. Moreover, where it is desired to use an automated system where computer orders are sent to the load'carrier to position the load carrier with respect to a selectedbin', accurate and constant spacing of the rails upon which the load carrier rides with respect to the various bins is necessary. Finally, where the storage and retrieval arrangement of-my copending application is to be installed to modernize an antiquated storage arrangement, the floor of the storage space is frequently unlevel and rutted due to wear, rendering accurate rail spacing time consuming anddifficult.

The rail mounting arrangement and rail plate of the present invention obviates these disadvantages and is capable of providing uniform, accurate and rugged spacing of the load carrier rails with respect to the many support members of the storage frames. Moreover, the railmounting'arrangement may be utilized to rapidly and easily convert antiquated storage spaces to the updated storage and retrieval arrangement of my copending application. Such a rail plate assembly will accurately position the load carrier rails with respect to the storage frames in both the horizontal and the'vertical planes.

SUMMARY or THE vE TIoN spaced relationship from the support member.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.

' In the course of this description, reference will frequently be made to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment o rail plate assembly constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention showing the sto ragefram e support members and 'rail attached thereto: FIG. 2 is a cross sectioned elevation view of the rail plate assembly taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectioned plan view of the rail plate taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the shim plate;

FIG. 5 isa cross sectioned elevation view of one embodimentof shim arrangement; and- I t v FIG. 6 is a cross sectioned elevationview of another embodiment of shim arrangement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the preferred embodiment of the rail plate assembly of my invention is shown. A plurality of plates of the storage space and extending into the aisle formed 4 between the frames from beneath at least some of the tubular vertical support members 10 of the storage frames. Thesupport members 10 are adapted to'restupon one end of the upper face 12 of the plate. Thesupport members 10 are generally rectangular in cross section andcarry a plurality of shoulders 14 adapted to support palletsupon which. the stored articles rest in thestorage frarnesthus defining bins in the storage frames. A short base plate .l6is attached to the base of each of the support members 10, as byfwelding, and extends v outwardly from beneath one side of each of the support mem bers. k

A plurality of aperture slots 18, 19 and 20 extend through each end of the rail plate 8 and through a point intermediate its ends, respectively. The base plate 16 also carries an aperture 22, the aperture 18 of the plate member being adapted to befaligned with aperture 22 of thebase plate 16. Bolts 24, 25 and 26 are provided to anchor the rail plate 8 to the floor 9 of the storage space; bolt 24 also passing through the aperture 22 of the base plate 16 anchoring the' support member 10 to the rail plate 8 in a predetermined position. The apertures l8, l9 and 20 are slot shaped and allow. accurate positioning of the plate with respect to the holes in the floor which accom-- modate bolts 24, 25 and 26 prior to the tightening of thebolts.

Toward the end of the plate opposite the support member 10, a pair of studs 28 and 29 extend upwardly from the upper face 12 of the rail plate, the studs 28 'and 29 may either be fixed to the upper face 12 of the plate, as by welding as shown, A i

or may-pass through prepositioned apertures from beneath the plate. The studs 28 and 29 of each r'ail plate are arranged a predetermined distance from aperture 18 and, support member 10; the distance being selectedgto allow a minimum clearance between the load carrier and the support members. 10. A rail 30 is provided with, its base flange 34 resting upon.

the upper face 12 of the rail plate. A conventional rail clamp 35 is carried by the studs 28 and 29.and a nut 36 is threaded on the studs securely clamping the rail base flange-34 to the rail plate 8. v I f If the floor 9 of the storage space is not level due to sloping for drainage, building settlement, previous wear, etc., a shim arrangement may be provided beneath the rail plate 8 between its lower face and the surface of the floor 9 to prevent deflection of the rail plate due to either the extremely heavy load carrier or loaded storage frames. Where the floor is uneven in only small local areas, as shown in FIG. 2, the use of shimsmay be obviated when using the rail plate 8 since the plate may be sufficiently supported over the remainder of its area and be ofsufficient strengthspch that the plate 8 positions the rail and its rigidity maintains the plate substantially undefiected to prevent undue movement of the rail 30 with respect to the support members 10. A shim arrangement is, however, preferred where the entire rail plate 8 must be raised to a common base reference plane, as where the floor is gradually sloped over an extensive area or where only a short portion of the plate would be in contact with the floor. A preferred example of shim is shown in FIG. 4. The shim com prises a shim plate 38 having a plurality of slots 40, 41 and 42 extending from one edge of the plate 38 across a portion of its width. Each of the slots 40, 41 and 42 are spaced from each other by substantially the same spacing as the apertures 18, 20 and 19, respectively, of the rail plate 8 and are designed to accommodate the bolts 24, 25 and 26, respectively.

The shim plate 38 may be employed as shown in FIGS. or 6. In FIG. 5, the shim plate 38 is placed directly on the floor 9 with each of its slots straddling bolts 24, 25 and 26. The bolts may be longer than those shown in FlG. 2, if necessary. A pair of nuts 44 and 45, previously threaded on the bolts, may then be screwed downwardly against the shim plate 38 and upwardly against the bottom of the rail plate 8 to position the latter at the desired level. The space remaining between the plates 8 and 38 may then be filled with concrete 46 or other suitable substance to provide a base of proper height to support the rail plate 8 during operation of the load carrier.

If it is desired to avoid the time consuming and laborious task of concrete filling between the shim plate 38 and rail plate 8, the concrete fill may be eliminated and a plurality of shim plates 38 may be stacked upon each other to position and support the rail plate 8 at the desired height, as shown in FIG. 6

It will be evident when considering the above detailed description, that the rail mounting arrangement and rail plate of my invention will effectively and rapidly permit accurate spacing and positioning both in the horizontal and vertical directions, of a rail with respect to the storage frames of a storage space. Moreover, the rail mounting arrangement will accurately maintain such spacing during operation and will effectively obviate the need for elaborate and time consuming measures for positioning the rail where the floor of the space is not level.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the invention which has been described is merely illustrative of one of the applications of the principles of the invention. Numerous modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope'of the invention.

1 claim:

1. A storage frame and rail mounting arrangement comprising in combination: r

storage frames having a plurality of vertically arranged support members;

a rail for rollably supporting an article carrier thereon;

a plurality of elongated rigid flat plates extending beneath at least some of said support members and said rail, at least some of said support members and said rail being supported on a flat face of said plates;

first positioning means associated with each of said plates and anchoring said support members to said plates; and

second positioning means associated with each of said plates and anchoring said rail to said plates in a predetermined position relative to said support members, said first and second positioning means cooperating with each other to predetermine the positions of said support members and rail relative to each other in both the horizontal and vertical. I

2. The arrangement of claim 1 including-apertures extending between the flat faces of said plates for anchoring the plates to a floor.

3. The arrangement of claim 1 including: 1

anchoring means for anchoring said plates to a floor;

a shim plate positioned between at least some of said plates and the floor; said shim plate defining slots which accommodate said anchoring means; and means for spacing said rigid plates from their shim plates by predetermined distances.

4. The arrangement of claim 3 wherein the latter mentioned spacing means comprises additional shim plates.

5. The plate of claim 1, wherein said first positioning means include at least one aperture in said plates, and anchor means cooperating with said aperture for anchoring both the support members to said plates and said plates toa subfloor. 

1. A storage frame and rail mounting arrangement comprising in combination: storage frames having a plurality of vertically arranged support members; a rail for rollably supporting an article carrier thereon; a plurality of elongated rigid flat plates extending beneath at least some of said support members and said rail, at least some of said support members and said rail being supported on a flat face of said plates; first positioning means associated with each of said plates and anchoring said support members to said plates; and second positioning means associated with each of said plates and anchoring said rail to said plates in a predetermined position relative to said support members, said first and second positioning means cooperating with each other to predetermine the positions of said support members and rail relative to each other in both the horizontal and vertical.
 2. The arrangement of claim 1 including apertures extending between the flat faces of said plates for anchoring the plates to a floor.
 3. The arrangement of claim 1 including: anchoring means for anchoring said plates to a floor; a shim plate positioned between at least some of said plates and the floor; said shim plate defining slots which accommodate said anchoring means; and means for spacing said rigid plates from their shim plates by predetermined distances.
 4. The arrangement of claim 3 wherein the latter mentioned spacing means comprises additional shim plates.
 5. The plate of claim 1, wherein said first positioning means include at least one aperture in said plates, and anchor means cooperating with said aperture for anchoring both the support members to said plates and said plates to a subfloor. 